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Orphan Age is a dystopian take on the life sim genre, where you play not as the soldiers of war, but as the children left behind.

Set against the backdrop of an unforgiving, neon-lit cyberpunk warzone, your only battle is the fight for survival, scraping out a living in the face of extreme danger as war engulfs the world around you.

Sitting somewhere between The Sims and This War of Mine, you will guide a band of orphans, each with their own skills, emotions, strengths, weaknesses, and fears through a bitter struggle for survival in a dangerous and ever-changing city.

Constantly balancing risk and reward, you must make the big decisions to ensure the group stays alive. Build up your base, scavenge, craft and venture out into the city for new recruits, whilst ensuring there are enough supplies to keep going, even when all hope seems lost.

Makeup And Vanity Set will be the guest composer of Orphan Age's Soundtrack!

We have a guest composer, the master of cyberpunk arpeggios: Makeup and Vanity set himself! During the development of Orphan Age, his music became the unofficial soundtrack of our creative sessions and we are thrilled to have him embark on the Black Flag ship for the Orphan Age adventure!

As gamers, we have Rogue-likes, Doom-likes, Starcraft-likes, DotA-likes... Yet, there are no Sims-likes. It has always baffled us that The Sims, despite its success, never gave birth to a genre.

For years we have wondered what a hardcore take on the Sims would look like. That's how the idea of Orphan Age was born in 2009: a deep micro-simulation within an unforgiving world.

Believable characters:In Orphan Age, every Orphan is unique. Each has a specific set of skills, personality traits, likenesses...

There are five needs to oversee in Orphan Age, as you constantly try to find balance between pushing the limits and the wellness of the inhabitants of your Orphanage.

Create your own Orphan

Orphan Age plays as a single player campaign with a lot of replayability inspired by the 4X genre. But there’s a twist! 4X stands for Exploration, Exploitation, Expansion and Extermination. In Orphan Age, we replace Extermination with Empathy, bending the 4X genre into a 4E.

Exploration:

Launch expedition in a procedural and dangerous city

The city of Orphan Age is ever-changing and procedural. You won't find the same building twice. There are high risks and high rewards when you explore. You can find rare resources, Orphans to recruit, but you can also get wounded or worse...

Exploration is similar to the expeditions of Fallout Shelter: procedural text adventures. They offer more complexity though, because you have to make numerous choices while you're out of the orphanage.

Exploitation:

Ensure survival by managing carefully your resources

Hundreds of resources are left to be scavenged in the Orphanage or in the city. They are classified in 6 categories:

Expansion:

Build your base

The Orphanage is the place your Orphans call home. The environment surrounding the Orphans greatly affects their moods. Try to keep the rooms lit, warm, furnished and clean for the happiness of all!

There are 38 different items of furniture to build (beds, playgrounds, science mats, campfire, heaters...) and each one can be upgraded.

Research allows you to discover better furniture and improve living conditions for the orphans.

Empathy:

Orphan Age is a deep micro-simulation. Making each Orphan unique in personality and in gameplay. Depending on who they are and how well they are, the Orphans will take different paths anytime there is an issue to be discussed.

Orphan Age is a street-level lo-fi cyberpunk game asking a grim question: when our children judge us, what will be the verdict?

The story is set in a city that could be yours in 2027, where riots have turned into a civil war. In the midst of chaos, a bunch of kids left behind join forces to survive.

Orphan Age isn't a narrative game in the classical sense, yet every playthrough will tell a different story. When there is an issue or a matter to discuss, the Orphans gather around the fire to make decisions. This is where all your choices so far come together and unfold before your eyes, as the Orphans shape their own destiny.

The council gathers when a new Orphan wants to join the orphanage, when a dispute needs to be settled or when an unpredictable event occurs.

You can get Orphan Age: Diaries immediately!

Orphan Age: Diaries is a companion game to Orphan Age.It is an interactive story where you are put in the shoes of Farouk, a kid left alone in his apartment, trying to blend in with a group of Orphans he has recently met.

You will have to take meaningful decisions, all leading to different fates and endings, while discovering secrets about Orphan Age's background.

Orphan Age: Diaries has been carefully crafted by our friends at Nova-Box. For years, we've loved their work - they create incredibly good visual novels. Their last project "Along the Edge" sits at a 94% userscore on Steam.

We are a fan of their games and they fell in love with the universe of Orphan Age, so we decided together to create Orphan Age: Diaries. Orphan Age: Diaries is a timed exclusive to Kickstarter and will be published alongside Orphan Age on Steam.

For every reward tier containing Orphan Age, we will add an in-game content pack.

This pack is exclusive to Kickstarter backers! It contains a unique Orphan, character trait, and special event. The only way to get this content is by supporting Orphan Age.

But wait, there’s more! You can unlock more content through backers achievements. Join forces and get more exclusive content and rewards!

We have plenty of rewards to be sent. Here is a selection of the rewards we have crafted for you!

Digital EditionGet Orphan Age on Steam upon release in Early Access (est. late 2018, early 2019).

Complete EditionGet Orphan Age on Steam upon Early Access release, you also get instantly Orphan Age: Diaries. This editions comes with the digital soundrack and a bonus Steam key of Yrminsul, our previous game!

Alpha Access EditionGet a Steam key of Orphan Age as soon as the campaign ends, name an Orphan and also get as well all of the complete edition bonuses!

Physical EditionGet Orphan Age in a high quality metal DVD case (est. late 2019)

Boxed EditionA boxed physical version containing a lot of goodies and a sticker album in which every sticker is an Orphan Age in-game quest. Complete the album as you progress in the campaign! (est. late 2019)

All editions of Orphan Age come with the exclusive in-game content pack!

Almost all of Orphan Age was made by us two. That being said, we have been helped by some talented freelancers:

Alexander Chelyshev: Key art and illustration

Aurélien Rantet: Concept art

Aurélien Filippi: Logo

No one has worked for free or "paid in passion" on Orphan Age we make sure that every one of our colleagues is paid a decent and livable wage for their work.

The story of this project goes back quite a while.

Adrien first pitched the concept in 2009. The game had a different title at the time - The Ascent - and the gameplay was quite different. But the idea took root, and the project went into production. The Ascent was showcased at various events, and publishers were starting to express interest. But the life of an independent studio is such that after a run of bad luck (and quite a few late payments), the company had to close its doors in 2011.

Adrien founded Studio Black Flag in 2013 with a mind to resurrect the project. In 2014, the rights were transferred to Black Flag and the idea was rebooted as Orphan Age, this time with more focused gameplay.

In 2015, Orphan Age secured some funding thanks to the CNC, the French state cultural grant for video games. With this extra funding, Maxime was hired and the pre-production started in earnest during spring 2016. Orphan Age was showcased for the first time during Gamescom, as well as at several gaming events throughout France.

In 2017, another local government grant from the New-Aquitaine Region allowed the studio to strengthen the production values and increase the scale of the project.

We are now in the final stretch!

A first beta version was showcased during PAX Paris in April 2018, garnering overwhelmingly positive feedback. A few weeks later, Orphan Age was awarded "Best Indie Game" by the jury of the renowned Stunfest festival!

After 9 years trying to make this game happen, Orphan Age will finally leave its prototype state. It has been a hell of a journey, yet it is only the beginning of the adventure!

We have also been supported by the CNC - the French fund for video games - as well as the Region New-Aquitaine.

All the post campaign delivery and surveys will be sent vie our partners: Backerkit.

Press quotes:

"I can’t wait to see more details about Orphan Age" - Game-guide.fr

"One of my crushes from the Gamescom" - margxt.fr

"We are very excited how Orphan Age will develop until the release next year - until then we will advance a big thumbs up!" - games2gether.de

"It's called Orphan Age and you should definitely keep the project in mind"- gamezgeneration.de

Orphan Age has been a real labor of love for us - we’re a very small team, and have been working on the game for 9 years now, funding development ourselves rather than working with publishers. We’re getting close to the finish line now, but we want the Kickstarter community to help us get there.

In order to cover the development costs, we have to work for other studios which prevents us from being full time on Orphan Age. Receiving funding would allow us to focus all our energy on Orphan Age and accelerate development.

Also, we are only two people - we cannot perform all the needed tasks with the level of polish we have set for ourselves. We need to hire freelancers for illustration, music, animation, etc., none of which come free. The funding we’re asking for from Kickstarter will help us to make that concept a reality, supporting additional music, art, design, sound and localization work to make the game better in every way.

We also love the way Kickstarter can help to build a community around a concept they love. The sandbox nature of Orphan Age makes it a perfect game to create with the community! Being able to implement your input is the best way to make the best game possible!

Risks and challenges

After spending nine years trying to create Orphan Age, we have long since passed the point of no return - there is no question regarding whether we'll get to the finish line.

No video game project is without risk. After so many years of trying to create this game, we know that all too well. That's why we've waited so long before presenting the project on Kickstarter: we wanted the prototype to be really polished, with all major features implemented. The next phase of development is all about content creation and balance. There are no development risks anymore.

We have been able to finance ourselves by providing services, but it is time to accelerate development, and this can only be done with your help.

We tried to work with publishers, but we never found a compromise that respected Orphan Age's DNA. Showing children in distress is not a risk they are willing to take, and we do not want to distort this game by toning down its dark universe.

With your help, we can guarantee the independence of the studio and protect the artistic vision carried by Orphan Age. Even better, you can make it your own!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge €80 or more
About $91

Physical Edition

You get instant access to the private alpha on Steam, the "Us Against Them Edition" AND a Metal Case DVD of Orphan Age upon release! You’ll also get a digital copy of the game too, which you can share with someone special.

Of course, you get all the rewards above, plus you will get to design an in-game toy for the kids of Orphan Age!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge €100 or more
About $114

Leave your mark Edition

The "Leave Your Mark" Edition contains a second exclusive In-Game content pack. In addition to that, a building will be named after you and you will tag a wall in Orphan Age. You will literally leave your mark on Orphan Age!

In addition, you will receive the Physical Edition and the "Us Against Them" digital deluxe edition.